


as the torch is passed

by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)



Category: DCU (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Background Dick Grayson/Roy Harper, Family, Found Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 17:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/pseuds/Mayarene%20Rose
Summary: The next generation of Teen Titans gather for their first official mission.





	as the torch is passed

**Author's Note:**

> I miss Lian and this exists in the universe where DC doesn't keep killing of children.

The drive from Star City to Titans Tower is a long one but Lian doesn’t mind. She’s alone in the car with her dad--and she wishes Mar’i and Uncle Dick were with them, but Aunt Kory had come to their house earlier to pick them the two of them up--and it’s a fun time. Her dad plays old music. Lian teases him about it. He pretends to be offended. Just another day, really.

The only new thing is that Lian’s wearing her new Speedy costume and that’s not as new as it could be.

Her dad nudges her, jostling her bow in a way that Lian knows is completely intentional. Keeping her equipment with her in the car was a bad idea but Lian likes it and her dad lets her. She turns to him and gives him the stink eye. Her dad grins back, completely unabashed. He is the absolute worst sometimes.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Dinah,” he says. “That glare is all her, etai yazi.”

“She gave me lessons,” Lian says, which she really did. Several, in fact. Lian learned a lot.

It makes her dad laugh. He still laughs a lot, even after all these years. Not a lot of heroes can say that. Lian’s never known a time where her dad wasn’t smiling around her. It is weirdly reassuring. She thinks that things will always be okay as long as her dad’s laughing.

Lian’s lip twitches. She rolls her shoulders. She’s still trying to get used to her new costume. Don’t get her wrong, she  _ loves  _ the thing. She picked it out herself and it’s a lot less dumb and a lot more practical than the other things Speedy’s worn over the decades, but there’s just something about taking on a new name that’s a lot older than she is.

Lian and her dad sit in companionable silence for a while. They could have gone through transporters but Lian wants to go the old fashioned way. It’s way more fun. Then, he nudges her again and says,

“You nervous, kiddo?”

“What’s there to be nervous about?”

It’s not like being a Titan is a new thing to her or anything. She practically grew up in the tower. And on the times she wasn’t living there, at least her dad’s friends were at her house almost every day. Uncle Dick, especially. Until he eventually came to live with them with Mar’i.

Really, taking over the tower is just a formality. Lian’s known her teammates since forever. Irey and Jai and Cerdian and Mar’i, even Damian. There are some new kids but it’s not gonna take long to get to know them. It’s not even the first time they’ve had a team-up. They were Titans since they were kids. It’s just about time they take the name. At least that’s what her aunts and uncles said when they talked about them about it.

Obviously, they all unanimously agreed to do it. They’ve all wanted to be Titans since practically the day they were born.

(Damian would claim otherwise but Damian claims a lot of stupid things and they mostly just laugh at him when he tries to act all high and mighty.)

Her dad ruffles her hair like he knows what she’s thinking. It messes up her hair. Lian should have kept her hood up. It’s ridiculous.

“You’re already doing great,” her dad says and Lian lets herself smile at that. Just a little, though. She likes keeping people on their toes.

\--

They arrive at Titans Tower with two minutes to spare. Lian credits that to her dad’s terrifying driving skills.

(It was Uncle Dick who taught her how to drive. He wouldn’t even let her dad think about teaching her how to drive.

Aunt Dinah agreed--said that her dad once nearly run over an elephant--so here they are.)

Mar’i is already there so Uncle Dick and Aunt Kory probably are too. She flies forward before Lian’s dad has even parked and picks her up from her seat and into a strong embrace.

Lian hugs her back, obviously. It’s nowhere near as strong as Mar’i’s grip (damn half-tamarenean strength) but Lian’s hug are the best and everyone knows it.

“I’ve missed you,” Mar’i says.

“We literally saw each other this morning,” Lian says. “We had breakfast together. You literally helped me suit up.”

“Too long,” Mar’i declares. “We’ve been here for hours. You could have just flown with us, you know.”

“But then you wouldn’t have gotten to spend some quality time with your mom and dad.”

Mar’i glares at her and sets her down on the ground. Lian smiles sweetly. Mar’i legendarily  _ hates  _ spending time with the two of her parents in one room. It’s not that they hate each other, because they don’t, it’s that things are so embarrassingly and sickeningly sweet between them that it is painful and awkward for everyone involved.

(Lian had spent an hour with them once and just… never again. She loves Uncle Dick with all her heart but just no.

She asked her dad about it when she was ten, and if he minded and he’d just shrugged. 

“What’s there to mind? That’s just how Dick and Kory are,” he told her. “Those two are just ridiculous like that, princess.”)

“Hey there Mar’i,” Lian’s dad says, stepping out of the car and striding over to them. “Where’s your dad?”

“He said you’d know,” Mar’i says. “And can I just say that I do  _ not  _ want to know where that is. Especially since we’ll be living here for a while.”

“Mood,” Lian says. She and Mar’i high-five.

Her dad laughs again and heads into the tower with a backwards wave towards them. 

Lian sighs. “We’re not gonna see those two for a while, aren’t we?”

Mar’i shakes her head. She takes Lian by the armpit and flies her over to the top of the tower and into the window to the common room. 

“The others here, yet?” Lian asks. She thinks she hears some of them raiding the kitchen. A lot of arguing. Damian is definitely there. Damian argues a lot. It’s how he shows his love.

“Jon and Damian arrived together,” Mar’i says. “They finally brought that Colin along and I think he’s great. Though we need to convince him to pick another name because Abuse is ridiculous. Jai and Irey are…” Mar’i shrugs. Lian snorts.

“Jai could at least try to make his sister not so late,” she says. “I thought being permanently late was a speedster thing. He literally has no excuse.”

“He had to learn from somewhere.”

Lian rolls her eyes. “And Cerdian?”

“Arguing with Damian in the kitchen on how to properly feed goldfish. He brought an Aquagirl with him and Damian is hopelessly outnumbered. They’re probably about to break out the weapons soon.”

“Jon and Colin didn’t stop them?”

“You really think Jon can stop Damian from doing anything?”

As if in agreement, there is a large crash from the kitchen. There is the sound of a lot of things breaking.

“We should probably stop them,” Lian says slowly. “They listen to us, right?”

“Sometimes and we should,” Mar’i agrees. “Jon and Colin are with them.”

A pause. Lian looks at Mar’i. Mar’i looks at Lian. 

“First one there gets recording rights!” Lian shouts before reaching for her bow and shooting a net arrow. 

She makes a break for the kitchen before she could see if it worked. Judging from the fact that there is no angry half-tamarenean charging straight at her, it probably did.

“Cheat!” Lian hears Mar’i shout over her own laughter.

\--

Twenty minutes, two broken up fights, and several pieces of blackmail material collected, later, Jai and Irey  _ finally  _ arrive. Lian’s hood is a bit singed and Damian and Cerdian’s clothes are torn in some places. They are both sulking. Jon looks a lot like Superman after a JLA meeting with both Batman and Guy Gardener in one room, and Mar’i’s still sporting the net Lian threw at her. The new guys, Colin and the new Aquagirl (Lian should get her name soon, if she’s willing to give it) are looking at them with a mixture of fear and awe which.

It’s definitely a sane reaction. Lian likes them already.

Lian is pretty sure that the older Titans are watching them from somewhere and laughing their asses off. They’re also probably placing bets and collecting their own blackmail material. What they don’t know is that Lian already put Jai on their case. The only blackmail material they’ll be getting are cat videos. Can’t have their parents pull one over them, after all.

They hold their first meeting in the kitchen because they’re already there anyway. Irey is sprawled on the countertop, systematically going through all their food. Jai isn’t even trying to stop her because he’s too busy making eyes at Damian. Mar’i is standing between them, arms crossed over her chest, looking exasperated. Lian, on the other hand, is perfectly willing to let it play out just to see how those two would handle being together.

It’s gonna be hilarious, at the very least.

“So boss,” Mar’i says. “What’s the plan for today?”

Lian takes a deep breath. Everyone’s looking to her. She doesn’t know at what point she became the leader but she’s the leader and she likes it very much and it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

She blames Aunt Dinah for it. She never did Let Lian takes anyone’s shit.

“It’s our first official Teen Titans mission,” she says. “So let’s try not to do anything  _ too  _ embarrassing, okay?”

Everyone grins at her. Some supportively, some mischievously. Lian smiles. 

She’s home.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at [tumblr](https://discowlng.tumblr.com)!
> 
> As always, your comments give me life <3


End file.
